TO THE MOON, MARS, AND BEYOND: China aims for Moon's far side

Geoff sent me a link to the BBC post about China planning a mission to the far side of the Moon.

My thanks to Geoff for getting me out of the books on Living Trusts and Estate Planning.

I have been wrapped up in my own thoughts and have not taken time to share with you.

Trying to figure out what the tax collector might want when you don't have much to tax is proving to be time consuming.

Watching what my brother had to do as an executor made me think I should do some to clean up my act. :-)

Not sure where August went.

LRK

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http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34201946

China aims for Moon's far side

9 September 2015
From the sectionScience & Environment

China is planning the first ever landing of a lunar probe on the far side of the Moon, an engineer has said.

The Chang'e 4 mission is planned for sometime before 2020, Zou Yongliao from the Chinese Academy of Sciences told state broadcaster CCTV.

Mr Zou said the mission's objective would be to study geological conditions on the moon's far side.

This could eventually lead to the placement of a radio telescope for use by astronomers.

The Moon's far side would be shielded from radio transmissions from Earth, making it an excellent location for sensitive instruments.

China's next lunar mission is scheduled for 2017, when it will attempt return samples of lunar soil and rock to Earth.

If successful, China would become only the third country after the US and Russia to have successfully carried out such a mission.

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The lunar far side would be an excellent place to site a radio telescope

NASA image

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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-09/09/content_21823406.htm

China aims to be first to land on far side of moon

(Xinhua)Updated: 2015-09-09 09:23

BEIJING - China is planning to be the first country to land a lunar probe on the far side of the moon, a Chinese lunar probe scientist said Tuesday.

The mission will be carried out by Chang'e-4, a backup probe for Chang'e-3, and is slated to be launched before 2020, said Zou Yongliao from the moon exploration department under the Chinese Academy of Sciences at a deep-space exploration forum Tuesday.

Zou said government organs have ordered experts to assess the plan over the past 12 plus months. "China will be the first to complete the task if it is successful."

The State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense announced earlier this year that Chang'e-4 will be launched before 2020.

The far side of the moon, or "dark side of the moon" as it is more commonly called, is never visible to Earth because of gravitational forces. According to Zou, the far side of the moon has a clean electromagnetic environment, which provides an ideal field for low frequency radio study. "If we can can place a frequency spectrograph on the far side, we can fill a void."

Zou said Chang'e-4 is very similar to Chang'e-3 in structure but can handle more payload. It will be used to study the geological conditions of the dark side of the moon.

China plans to launch its Chang'e-5 lunar probe around 2017 to finish the last chapter in China's three-step (orbiting, landing and return) moon exploration program.

Li Chunlai, one of the main designers of the lunar probe ground application system, said Chang'e-5 will achieve several breakthroughs, including automatic sampling, ascending from the moon without a launch site and an unmanned docking 400,000 kilometers above the lunar surface.

Chang'e-5 will also have a new launch site and launch rockets, said Li.

Chang'e-3 landed on the moon in 2013, making China the third country after the Soviet Union and the United States to soft land a spacecraft on lunar soil.

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